I. INTRODUCTION [1-1.5 pages]

Here you explain briefly the purpose of your project. What issue did you address? Why did you address it? You will need to provide enough background to enable the reader to understand the problem being investigated.

Domain (e.g., general area of the project work, such as, for example, aeronautics engineering or nutrition) background, and problem statement

Why is the problem important (e.g., to you, to society, etc.)?

What specific sub-topics were considered in the project?

What was proposed as the deliverable(s) (e.g., what

Structure/outline for the remainder of the report

II. LITERATURE REVIEW [1 page]

The "literature review" section (sometimes also called "state-of-the-art") summarizes previous research addressing the same or related problem(s). The primary source for material in that section should be university library (collection of books, journals, and databases). The purpose of this section is to allow you to position your work with respect to other efforts addressing the issue of interest (this may involve previous and contemporary scholars with whom you may or may not agree on the subject).

State of the art in research and/or practice (cite references)
Any prior work particularly related to your project? If so explain the connections.
Key developments in the field (your perspective)

If you are pressed for time you may also explore some of the resources available on the web. Perhaps the most useful (although not always reliable) are the following:

for looking up scientific (e.g., peer-reviewed) references: http://scholar.google.com For example (as of March 15, 2015, typing up "paper helicopters" yields about 83,000 hits (vs. 17,200,000 on a regular Google search), "iPhone" - over 310,000 (1,910,000,000), and "sports statistical analysis" - approx. 1,900,000 (84,000,000). For more details on search techniques, please refer to a note on Academic Research with Google.

for definitions & general background materials: Wikipedia http://www.wikipedia.org

Please be aware, however, that while locating referential material on the web is relatively easy, it is as easy to check if the writing you provide in your report is original (do not copy and paste somebody else's work, no matter how appealing)